Companies Sell Your Personal Information for Billions

There is a MultiBillion dollar industries based on your personal information. They know where you live, what kind of car you drive, how much your salary is, how many children you have, where you shop, what you buy, and how much you pay for it. They know your credit card and banking information and most disturbing of all, they know your social security number. Each piece of information is sold to advertisers for about two fifths of a cent. It doesn’t sound like much but with the information they traffic in, it’s billions. These advertisers send you catalogs, insurance offers, offers for credit cards and all the junk mail you find in your mail boxes. They also post their advertisements on your blogs and computer screens.




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They collect your information with tracking devices on websites that allows a company to identify you as you travel around the web. They give you “free” downloads for your phone which lets them look at your contact list and location. They give you free screen savers, and greeting cards on the INTERNET. They send you surveys to fill out for a chance to win money.

Senator John Kerry is introducing a bill that would mandate companies let you inspect any information they have, correct any mistakes and opt out of being tracked if you wish. The Federal Trade Commission will be considering how to best protect consumers. It has already requested that major browsers come up with a “do not track” mechanism that will allow people to choose not to have their information collected by companies they aren’t doing business with.



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Some people argue that tracking doesn’t do any actual damage, as companies aren’t interested in your whole profile but only small chunks of information, and the risk of privacy isn’t that harmful. The real harm is when they have incorrect information, it’s one thing to get the wrong catalogs or ads but it’s totally different if it effects your credit or costs you a job. Russell Glass, the CEO of Bizo, who sells this information to hundreds of advertisers such as,Google, Sprint, Monster.com, Citibank, American Express and others says it’s the newness of the industry that scares people. He goes on to say that people don’t understand that companies don’t know who you are and don’t give a rats ass, they only want to sell you something.

Facebook doesn’t sell your personal information because it doesn’t have to. 23% of all online ads not on search engines, video, or email run on Facebook. But data collecting companies are grabbing all your information not set on private and selling it to anyone who is interested. As for Google, it’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it accessible to everyone.


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